To Take A Step Forward You Need To Take One Back
by allwalkfree
Summary: When Kuroro wakes up to the most unlikeliest of situations he has to figure out away out of this mysterious labyrinth, figure out why the last Kurta seems to have forsaken his vengeance, and on top of that, make sure neither of them die along the way.
1. Interesting

Kuroro could hear nothing, see nothing, feel nothing. Wherever he was, something dark was hovering over him and the Phantom Troupe leader did not like it. Eyes twitching slightly behind his closed lids, he tried to move.

Nothing.

'_Interesting' _, he thought. _ 'I can't sense my nen at all.' _

Someone or something most have put him in a state of zetsu. That someone or something likely being whatever was looming over him.

That didn't explain his current inability to move however, nor did it shed any light on the perpetuating darkness he found himself in.

Kuroro let his mind wander trying to reach for a semblance of clarity in the form of his other senses. For now, he was calm. Despite his predicament no one had hurt him yet, so he was either being observed, or whomever most have put him in this state was waiting till he was awake to extract whatever they needed from him.

He wondered about his troupe members current whereabouts. Kuroro could distinctly recall walking with Shalnark to the designated meeting spot hours before whatever happened, happened. They most have been ambushed somehow. Taken of guard no matter how unlikely that seemed, for Kuroro could briefly recall flashes of memories of a sudden ice-cold hand wrapping itself around his throat, of Shalnark's panicked screams, of fighting to get free to no avail, before everything descended into nothingness.

'_Is Shalnark here? _' he wondered, trying again to extend his senses and tap into his nen. All he got for an answer was a pitiful simmering under his flesh and then nothing

So, it was still there then. Still accessible but buried so deep under his very essence that just the thought of forcing it back up and using it left him feeling wary.

Even so, the tiniest bit of weight fell of his chest. It was still there. For now, that was enough.

Sure, getting his nen back once again would not be impossible, but the last time that had happened, it had been quite the tedious affair, and Kuroro would rather avoid a repeat event if he could help it.

His mind suddenly jolted at the thought

_The chain user. _

Kuroro's brows furred the slightest degree across his forehead. _ 'Why hadn't he thought of the chain user? The reckless blond could have somehow gotten to him again, and maybe that's why his nen wasn't responding correctly? Maybe he had found another way to silence his nen. Not sealing it away this time, but making so that just the simple task of using it require a tremendous effort on his part?' _

Could he attribute the darkness and immobility he was currently experiencing to the chain user as well? As far as he could tell, the blond had not been capable of this feat last time they met, but then again, the chain user had made progress far beyond the average man once before. Granted he did it by sacrificing everything like a foolish boy, but who's to say that he hadn't yet made another deal to immobilize his worst enemy and drag him into a world of endless darkness just to finish him off later?

Kuroro would have snorted in amusement if his body was able. If this turned out to be in fact the chain user, it would mark it the second time the effeminate boy had managed to get the drop on him. The infamous leader of the deadliest group of thieves the world had ever known bested by a teenager boy, twice? He was almost impressed.

And just as his musings came to an end. Noises began to filter through the murky paralyses, dragging him slowly back into the world of the living. It was a slow going, but with gentle pats on his shoulder by a hand he could faintly feel the pressure of, and a reassuring voice cozying him back into consciousness, he managed to finally crack open a single eye and gasp in a shuddering breath.

It was as if a wall of stones had been lifted of his chest and he could suddenly inhale all the air his lungs had been craving the whole time his body lay defenselessly on the ground. Or what he thought was the ground. It certainty felt cold enough.

Squinting at the blinding light piercing through his sensitive eyes, Kuroro frowned, trying to bring up his right arm to shield himself against its burning brightness. Of course his limb refused to comply with his demands, laying there useless and unresponsive, but before he could shut his eyes all together and avoid the light that way, a quick stumble of words was muttered uncomfortably close next to him, before a head of blond hair with the brightest of blue eyes leaned into his field of vision, effectively blocking the light .

"Better?" the chain user asked.

For he was undeniably the chain user. Even if the Phantom leader was tempted to not trust his eyes at the moment.

The bizarreness of the situation was slowly starting to confound the thieve, but rather than let that show on his face, he kept his expression serenely blank and answered with a twitch of his lips and a twinkling of his eyes. "Much better yes," he said, voice coming out more scratchy then he expected. "Thank you."


	2. What Do You Know Chain User

Huffing, the chain user rolled his eyes. Opting to retreat from his line of sight instead of saying anything in return. Before he moved, the Kurta's eyes briefly rested on Kuroro's forehead. His gaze darkening the slightest of degrees, before he seemed to shake himself out of it and rise to his feet.

Kuroro's lips twitched in amusement. _ 'How curious.' _

As quickly as he had left, Kurapika's figure was back to shield him from the light. Now a water bottle dangling from his grip. "Are you thirsty?" he questioned, setting it down next to them.

Before Kuroko could open his mouth to reply however; snide remark resting at the tip of his tongue, the teenager had already started to move yet again. Shuffling behind him to get a better grip on his upper body. A light irritation ran down Kuroro's spine. If the chain user could just stop for a second and let him get his baring's back, it would be much appreciated, but sadly, no such luck.

Suddenly two small hands found themselves between his armpits, as the chain user started to drag him across the floor. "I object to this mistreatment of my body," Kuroko called out, taking advantage of his almost sitting position to scan the room.

The chain user just scoffed.

It wasn't much to look at.

The four-square stone champers they found themselves in was disgustingly filthy. Insects running around in the corners as far as Kuroro could tell, trying to hide away from the looming figures of him and the chain user. The ground beneath them looked damp, splashes of murky water filling the small holes in the rocky ground underneath them. Plus, the dripping sealing and what clearly looked like some dead animal at the far side of the room left much to be desired.

"Please tell me you're not dragging me across this filth," Kuroro asked, voice light and slightly amused.

The chain user snorted behind him. "Ok," he said. "I won't."

Kuroro rolled his eyes. It wasn't like he wasn't used to dirt, death and stink. He grew up in Ryūseigai after all. Crawling his way out of the trash like the cockroach he was since the day he was born.

Still, the grim would take a while to get out of his coat, and Kuroro really didn't want to replace it.

Before he could allow another objection to escape his lips however, his back hit a wall. Kurapika moving to his side to better adjust him so he didn't tip over.

"You should be able to move your body soon," the kid said, fingers flittering across his body as if to check for something. "It starts slow, but the process of recovery is relatively fast after that."

Apparently satisfied with his inspections, the blonde scurried away over to the water bottle he had abandoned, swiped it up, made his way back to the troupe leader. "You should drink something," he said, thrusting the water bottle in his face.

Kuroro lifted a single eyebrow at that.

Kurapika blinked. "Uh," he said in realization, retreating his arm slowly. "Can you move your arms yet?"

The question was asked with a casual air of indifference, but the way his eyes were jumping all over the place, bouncing left and right as if the mare act of standing still was hurting him, made the chain user's whole casual act fall apart.

Kuroro almost told him no for the briefest of seconds. Curious to see what the teen would do, but his throat was parched, he was tired, and he wanted to test the semblance of feeling he had gotten back from his limbs, so instead of answering, he slowly lifted his right arm; a painstaking effort, and waved it casually at the chain user.

Something like relief moved across the blonde's eyes before he quickly shut it down, face turning blank.

Kuroro bit back a grin. This was looking more and more interesting the longer it went on.

"Could you kindly open it for me?" Kuroro asked, words holding a teasing lilt as his eyes danced with poorly hidden mirth. What a weird situation this was. The Kurta, last of a slaughtered clan, feeding the immobile murderer of his family water.

Kuroro almost laughed out loud.

The Kurta frowned deeply, but instead of objecting and throwing a fit like Kuroro had expected, he took a deep breath, squared his shoulders, breathed out before putting his delicate fingers atop of the bottle cap, twisting it open.

"Here," he grunted, forcing the cold object into the thieves' waiting hand. "Don't drink too much at once. You wouldn't be very useful to me if you fell sick."

With that he retreated to the other side of the small room, where his bag was located, and sank to the ground with a heavy thud. Opting to stare at anything and everything that wasn't the murderer of his family .

Kuroro made sure to keep an eye on him as he sipped the water slowly, the cooling liquid a relief against his parched throat.

Swallowing the last mouthful of water he would allow himself, the Phantom Troupe leader let his eyes fully rest on the teenager sitting at the corner.

"Where are we?" he asked. A simple enough question. He wondered if the child would give him a simple enough answer.

The chain user tilted his head in his direction and pursed his lips as if contemplating whether he wanted to give up this little detail or not. Finally he shrugged and looked back over at the opposite wall. " Mosakma Labyrinth," he said evenly.

"Oh," Kuroro uttered. "The labyrinth of faith?"

Brief flicker of surprise passed the Kurta's eyes. He gave a quick nod. "Yeah," he said. "How did you know."

"The language sounded familiar."

The chain user stared at him. Stared at him as if he stared hard enough he would be able to decipher whether Kuroro was telling the truth or not.

Kuroro met his gaze evenly.

The Kurta nodded to himself after a silent minute of nothing but locked gazes had passed, seemingly satisfied with what he saw. Turning his head to look at the wall again, he asked his own question. "Do you know how you got here?"

"No," Kuroro said. "I was hoping you could tell me, chain user?"

The teen flinched at the nickname. Something dark and brutal passing across his face, before he was able to reign it in and shut it back down.

How fascinating. The kid was deliberately suppressing his raging hatred for him behind walls of neutrality. What had changed? Had the young Kurta matured past petty vengeance? Was he waiting for something? Did Kuroro's continued breathing hinge on something important? So many questions and such few answers.

Kuroro smiled. "So?"

Hunching over his crossed legs, the chain user shrugged. "I don't know," he said. "I came here of my own free will."

"You don't seem surprised that I am here."

The Kurta shrugged again. "I'm not. I summoned you here after all."

Kuroro's eyes widened a fraction of a second, mouth falling open as he stared at the chain user in disbelief. This, this surprised him.

And by the way the blonde's lips curved into a half smile, he was rather pleased he had taken the revered thief of Ryūseigai completely off guard.

"Now this is an interesting turn of event," the Phantom Troupe leader said. Mouth stretching into a horrid grin. "What game are you playing chain user?"


	3. Let's Talk

"A dangerous one? "The Kurta shrugged. "A foolish one? I don't really know; it depends on how it ends."

The killing intent that had slowly started to suffocate the air around them, suddenly doubled in its intensity.

"Oh?"

Kuroro's lips pulled down into a frown, but he didn't say anything else. Choosing instead to remain silent and hold his tongue.

From what he remembered of their last encounter; the Kurta didn't like being put of balance by an uninterested party. He would likely reveal the information all on his own if given enough time, and Kuroro would rather get more information out of him that way.

And he was right. In fact, the longer the silence dragged on the more those electric blue eyes narrowed in suspicion.

If Kuroro had been a lesser man, he would have let his amusement show, but alas he wasn't and thus kept still, face carefully portraying a blank look of indifference.

By now the chain user's eyes were a hair breadth away from fully disappearing behind his eyelids. Finally, he seemed to have had enough of their waiting game for he opened his mouth and broke the tense silence.

"Aren't you curious?" he snapped, frowning at Kuroro with thinly vailed look of disgust. "Don't you want to know how or why I summoned you?"

He was so easily angered. It almost took the fun out of it.

"Of course, I do," Kuroro answered.

"Then why aren't you prying for information? Why are you just sitting there acting like you don't care that I essentially kidnapped you?" Suspicion was practically oozing out of the chain user in waves.

So paranoid. So easily riled. Kuroro had never been more entertained.

Sure Kuroro had met his fair sheer of interesting people in his short life. How could he not? But there was just something different about the blonde.

Maybe because he was the last survivor of an eradicated clan, maybe because he managed to kill Uvo when people far greater had failed, maybe because he was the first to ever best him, but the more he remained in his presence, the more the Phantom Troupe leader felt himself drawn to the hunter, like a magnet to steel.

He was quite mesmerized by him to be honest. The fury in his eyes, the elegant yet deadly chains that he utilized that were so uniquely his and that beautiful shade of red behind those lenses that made something inside Kuroro crave to just pluck them right out of his skull.

Kurapika was a breathtaking masterpiece of his creation. He made him this way. He made him into the anguished ball of angst and desperation that the Kurta was today. And oh, if that didn't make his blood sing a familiar tune of death.

"Well," the chain user said. His accusing tone crashing through Kuroro's musings. Crushing and brutally washing away the vivid images of red and eyeless sockets dancing in the mind of the criminal.

He blinked, reality readjusting back around him like a fitted glove.

"I apologize chain user," he said, eyes moving away from their fixed gaze of staring at phantom blood on his fingers to the boy sitting at the corner of the small room with a familiar sour look on his face. "I was lost in thought."

The Kurta scoffed. "I don't want to know what kind of evil goes on inside of your twisted head."

Kuroro's smiled. Screaming and dying Kurta's flashing in his mind, with the chain user desperate cries of rage somehow drowning them all out. "I imagine you wouldn't," he said softly.

The blonde just sighed, shoulders slumping as a brief look of resignation fell over his face.

"Why you?" he muttered to himself, letting the back of his head hit the filthy wall in what looked to be a painful thud.

"Isn't that the fundamental question of your entire life?" Kuroro asked easily.

He couldn't really help himself. The Kurta was just too interesting not to poke at his most sensitive nerves.

And as if a switch had been flicked, the chain user upon registering the content of Kuroro's question whirled around to face him. A feral snarl twisting its way onto his lips. Eyes flashing blood red behind blue contacts.

The obvious anger coursing through his vain was pouring out of him in waves of rage and utter need to destroy.

"Fuck you," he hissed. The blue contacts entirely blotted out by the pulsing red behind them. "Don't you dare make light of what you and your savages did to my people!"

Ah, and there it was. Kuroro didn't dare move from his spot. Worried that the lid would come back down and hide away that beautiful rage he was witnessing.

Instead he chose once again to sit there in silence and quietly observe the boy in front of him.


	4. Secrets, Secrets

The Kurta was breathing heavily. Chest rising and falling as if he couldn't get enough air in his lungs, and fists clenching so hard, Kuroro had a half a mind to sympathies with their pain.

Any semblance of polite façade was gone. Overrun by the share bloodlust in the air suffocating the both of them. "I'm going to kill you," the Kurta said, words barely above a whisper and eyes carefully hidden behind his hair.

"When this is all over, I will end you without hesitation."

A sudden laughter bubbled out past Kuroro's lips. Slapping a quick hand over his mouth, he let out a quit huff, shoulders shaking. 'What a relief.'

For a while now he had thought he misguided the chain user.

When Kuroro had woken up in this chamber and found himself in the company of a surprisingly civil Kurta, he had honestly wondered if the chain user's drive and conviction for vengeance had meant so little to him. That with enough time and distance, the boy's need for revenge had died out.

"Good to know that you remain unchanged," Kuroro said out loud, making himself comfortable against the wall. "I don't expect anything less. Now tell me chain user, what brings me here?"

The Kurta took a second to compose himself after his sudden declaration of murder. Rigid body almost unmoving as he took in quick and shallow breaths trying to calm himself down. All the while avoiding to so much as look in the direction of the murderer of his people.

Kuroro let him be.

Now that he knew exactly where he stood with the kid, he could afford to grant him some semblance of privacy to build back up those carefully constructed walls that Kuroro had so carelessly knocked down in his pursued to know the chain user remained the same damaged boy.

Flickering his wrist, he felt the familiar weight of his skill hunter coming to rest comfortably between his fingers and the palm of his hand.

So his nen was back then? Good to know.

Opening the book, Kuroro quickly skimmed over his most recently acquired skills.

None of them were of any use in active combat, but Kuroro never favored the offensive battles anyways, so he didn't really mind.

Letting his eyes rest on the last skill he stole; he finally flipped the book shut and once again focused his attention back on the Kurta that had brought him here.

The boy was currently pacing back and forth. Chewing furiously on his bottom lip in thought.

Kuroro watched him closely.

"What do you know about magic?" the chain user suddenly asked. Arms falling limply by his side as he came to a stop a couple of feet in front of the thief.

Kuroro blinked up at him. "Nothing?" he answered, letting the word drag out as if inviting an explanation.

This was of course not entirely true, as Kuroro had in fact heard about magic. But his knowledge on the subject was limited at best or non-existing at worse. Most of what he'd gathered about magic across the years were hearsay or had come from folktales. So if the Kurta was willing to divulge information on the topic, well, Kuroro wasn't going to stop him.

The chain user ran a hand through his hair and sighed. As if he expected the ignorance but still didn't want to be the one put in position to explain anything to the Phantom Troupe leader.

Kuroro reached out a hand then, and gently patted the ground in front of him, careful to let his fingers hover slightly above the filthy floor.

"Why don't you sit down and tell me?" he suggested, mouth quirking up into a fake smile.

The Kurta glared.

But being full of surprises today, he took Kuroro on his offer and choose to sit down. Flinging himself into the seat in front of the infamous man, he crossed his legs before his knees hit the ground, and let his elbows come to rest on top of them as he held his face between his palms in thought.

Puffing out his cheeks, the chain user blew out enough air to shift the blond strands of hair that had been obscuring his vision for the past couple of minutes, before he sighed again.

The action itself was such a casual teenage behaviour, that Kuroro couldn't help but find the act adorable. It reminded him of Shalnark.

Looking him in the eyes, the Kurta pursed his lips. Whatever he was about to say was clearly something he wished to keep to himself. But logic finally looked to have beat out his internal struggle, for he averted his eyes, hunched his shoulders and breathed out a secret most people in the world had never known.

"The Kurta clan were practitioners of the mystic arts. That's why there are major drawbacks to our eyes when we use them for nen. It's not natural."


	5. Chain of Faith

"Well," Kuroro said after a second of just pure confusion. "That certainly explains things chain user. I would have never guessed."

_This boy was full of surprises. _

Kurapika just shook his head, a light amusement coloring his eyes back to their dull blue. "It's true," he said, lifting a delicate hand up to their eye level and twisting it this way and that.

"Magic courses through the veins of any Kurta child the second they are born. The air around us turns into pure energy in our system, and as we grow older, we're able to utilize that in ways that are really amazing."

The chain user's eyes were bright, a level of life in them that Kuroro had never seen there before.

'_He looked, happy?' _

Something deep down within his soul, that Kuroro never even knew he possessed twisted itself into a painful knot at the realization.

It was strange. To see him like this. Made the fact that he was still just a child so very obvious. Kuroro was confused as to why this of all things bothered him. Even just little.

He quickly brushed it aside. _'A thought for another day,' _he mused.

"Oi Kuroro," the Kurta suddenly said. "Look at this." The pride in his voice was unmistakable, and the excited look on his face had Kuroro guessing the boy had always wanted to show whatever this was to someone else. Not even Kuroro being that someone could dampen the mood apparently.

Brows furrowed in concentration; the Kurta lips formed a straight line before he exhaled softly. With a tiny twitch of his fingers, and a quick snap, the atmosphere around them suddenly became thick with tension. Making it almost hard to breathe for a moment before it slowly let up.

Kuroro frowned. He wanted to say something, but now the Kurta's hand was beginning to crackle and fizzle with sheer energy. Something coming to life at the palm of his hand. The ripple sound of water filled their ears, drowning their hearts beats and making it difficult to even hear one another, but neither were bothered by it much. For the blonde was holding searing light in his hand, moving it slowly around in circles, letting the golden pulse of power dance around them not unlike fireflies in the night.

It was beautiful. Kuroro couldn't help but be entranced by what he was seeing. "Oh," he said again, eyes following the sparkling, burning sun with childlike interest. The Phantom Troupe leader feeling the exciting bubbles of discovering a new toy coursing through his entire being.

This is why he stole, why he killed why he traveled everywhere with his troupe members. To see such wonders that could capture his attention even for the smallest of seconds. He did it so he was never bored with life for too long. Didn't matter how long it lasted, as long as it made his eyes glow, his heart pound and his soul sing. Kuroro would do anything to see it. Anything to hold it. And sometimes it almost felt like the world was rewarding him for his curiosity. Just like now.

Without thinking, he found himself reaching out for that light. Eyes slightly wide and mouth forming a perfect O.

The chain user jerked back at the unexpected movement. Putting a hand behind him as if to push himself away from danger. The lightshow unfortunately dying down as a consequence. The Kurta unable to keep it up with his concentration now broken.

Kuroro stopped. Hand frozen midair.

Their eyes locked for a second, both not blinking. Kuroro stunned with the disappearance of the light, and Kurapika unnerved with the foreign movement that hadn't apparently been hostile.

No one said anything. Neither willing to be the first to break the quiet. Kuroro's pale gray eyes instead chose to move from Kurapika's face and down to his now ordinary, light-free hand. He frowned.

He wanted to see it again.

The chain user most have noticed his forlorn expression, because he made a strangled noise that suspiciously sounded like a mix between amusement and share horror.

"Seriously?" he asked, the instinctive impulse to get away slowly fading as the boy started to relax again the moment he realized the thief wasn't about to jump him the first chance he got.

Kuroro pouted looking away from the now dull hand and up at the blonde's face. "Can you bring it back?" he asked.

"Yes," the Kurta answered. Eyes dancing with mirth now. "But why?" He was clearly having fun with this.

The thief frowned. "I just want to see it again."

The Kurta's brows rose so high at the honest answer, they almost disappeared behind his fringes completely. "You're such a child," he breathed in wonder. Kuroro just shrugged.

"It looked pretty," he said in answer to the unasked question.

Silence fell like a blanked over them. A bit uncomfortable but not as tense as it had been all day. Kuroro would have analyzed this strange peaceful moment more thoroughly in his head any other day. But he still felt a bit down by the fact that he would never get to see that beautiful energy light ever again.

He was bought even lower by the knowledge that he couldn't even steal it and make it his own because of its magical properties.

Plus if he had stolen it somehow, he would've likely have had to kill the chain user to stop him from attempting to murder him with his bare hands afterwards, and probably lose the light as a result of it.

Kuroro sighed, shoulders slumping a fraction._ 'How disappointing.' _

"Hey," the other occupant of the room suddenly said. Voice sounding strange even to Kuroro's ears.

Blinking slowly, the Phantom Troupe leader looked up at the kid again.

The sudden bright light that greeted his face almost made him kill the blonde on instinct as it took him by surprise and blinded him, but Kuroro didn't dare blink or move away, for against all odds, the Kurta had decided to sate his curiosity, and Kuroro wasn't about to waste his chance to admire magic close up.

The surprise most have shown in his face however, for the Kurta scowled behind the light and shrugged dismissively. "Don't get any ideas," he snapped. "I just need to test a theory too." With that he reached out quickly and brushed his fingers against the thief.

The electric air surrounding them shifted again, and briefly Kuroro wondered if this was the first time the chain user had touched his bare skin again his own, but before he could contemplate that more, they were both blinded by the blue light suddenly swiveling around them.

It wasn't as pretty or mesmerizing as the energy crackling against Kuroro's finger tips, but it was still just as fascinating. He held the blonde's fingers tightly between his own, as they both watched the blue thread, for it was a thread, begin to coil around their figures as a result of the action, quickly connecting Kuroro's right wrist to Kurapika's left before vanishing as quickly as it came.

Interesting.

"Well," the Kurta said, inspecting the invisible thread with a poorly concealed contempt. "There you have it. We look to be connected by the chain of faith now."

Kuroro scoffed in amusement. "How appropriate."


End file.
